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▶Project Management with Gantt
Type the tasks and say what waits for what. It works out every date, draws the Gantt, and names the tasks that actually move the finish.
Every plan has a finish date on it. Almost nobody can tell you which task is holding that date up, so they shorten the wrong things and the date does not move.
- A real forward AND backward pass, in plain formulas, with slack in days and the critical path named
- A Gantt chart that draws itself: twenty-four working weeks, one bar per task, the critical path in rust
- Eight projects and sixty task rows on one timeline, one board and one budget
- Every task priced from its owner’s hourly rate, so the forecast moves the moment a duration does
- A workload view that flags the weeks a person is over-booked, and a status report that writes itself in sentences
Overview
Type the tasks and say what waits for what. It works out every date, draws the Gantt, and names the tasks that actually move the finish.
Every plan has a finish date on it. Almost nobody can tell you which task is holding that date up, so they shorten the wrong things and the date does not move.
This workbook does the arithmetic instead. You type the task, the owner, how many working days it takes, and the ID of the task it waits for. From that it runs a forward pass to work out every start and finish date, and a backward pass to work out how many days each task could slip before the project moves. Slack of zero is the critical path. In the shipped sample, nine of twenty-nine tasks are critical and the other twenty can slip for free; the portfolio finishes on March 16, 2027, and forecasts $58,820 against a $62,700 budget.
What's Included
One workbook, 13 connected tabs, in four color editions:
- One ZIP with the workbook in four color editions plus the three-color bundle
- A two-page Quick-Start PDF: the four things to do first, what every tab is for, and the honest warnings
- A START-HERE file naming which file to open and how the colorways work
- A worked four-project sample in every tab, so nothing is blank until you replace it
- A link to the narrated video tutorial that builds the plan step by step
Key Benefits
Why this one
The backward pass is the half almost no spreadsheet template does. The file works out the latest each task could finish without pushing the project, subtracts, and gives you slack in days. Zero slack means Critical: shorten one of those and the project ends sooner. Everything else says Has slack, and shortening it changes nothing at all.
Twenty-four working weeks across the top, one bar per task, the critical path in rust so the shape of the risk is visible from across the room. Change a duration on the Tasks tab and every bar after it slides. There is nothing to drag and nothing to redraw.
Eight projects and sixty task rows as it ships, all on the same Gantt, the same Kanban board, the same priority matrix and the same budget. No second file to keep in step, and no copy of anything.
Every task costs its hours at its owner’s rate, so every project carries a live forecast against its budget without you pricing anything twice. In the sample the portfolio looks comfortable at $58,820 against $62,700, and one project inside it is $3,300 over. The Health column says so; the total never would.
The workload tab spreads each task’s hours across the days it runs for and adds them up per person per week. Anything over the cap you set turns red. That is not a crisis, it is a decision, and the Path column tells you which tasks are safe to move.
The Status Report tab turns the plan into sentences: how many projects, the finish date, the money against the budget, what is done, what is blocked, what is critical. It reads the plan as it stands, so it never quietly reports last week. Select, copy, paste into an email.
Who It's For
Built for
- Anyone running more than one project at a time with a spreadsheet and a bad feeling
- Studios, agencies and small teams who need a date they can defend
- Anyone who has been asked "can we pull it in?" and had no way to answer
- Anyone who wants the arithmetic of a project manager without the subscription
How It Works
Up and running in minutes
Open Setup and type the date the work starts, the people who do it and what an hour of each of them costs. Five minutes, once.
Name, client, budget, and any cost that is not somebody’s time — print, fabrication, travel, crew.
On the Tasks tab, put the ID of the task each one waits for. Leave it empty for a task that can start on day one. That is the whole trick.
The Dashboard has both, worked out. The Path column says which tasks are holding the date.
The Status Report tab has already written it. Copy and paste.
Why It's Different
Not another template
The shelf sells project management templates as pretty Gantt charts you draw by hand, with a bar you drag and a date you type. None of them tell you which task is actually holding the finish date, because that needs a backward pass and a backward pass is work. This one does it, in formulas you can read, and then draws the chart for free.
Delivery & Compatibility
Instant, and it opens in what you already use
As soon as your order is complete you get instant access to download the ZIP: the workbook in four color editions, the three-color bundle, a two-page Quick-Start PDF and a START-HERE file.
One ZIP, instant download. Portable formulas only — no macros, no add-ons, no account and nothing to cancel. Opens in Microsoft Excel (2016 or later, Mac or PC) and Google Sheets; to use Sheets, upload the .xlsx to Drive and open it with Sheets. Apple Numbers opens it too. The four colorways are the same workbook: pick one and stay in it.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can a task wait for two other tasks?
One predecessor per task. Real critical-path software allows many. If a task genuinely waits for two, point it at the later one and note the other in the task name. The math tab says so plainly.
Does it know public holidays?
It skips Saturdays and Sundays. Holidays are yours to add, usually as a buffer task.
Will it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Every formula is portable. Upload the .xlsx to Google Drive and open it with Sheets; formulas and dropdowns carry over.
How many projects and tasks?
Eight projects and sixty task rows as it ships. Insert rows inside the block and the named ranges stretch with them.
A planning and record-keeping tool that calculates from the numbers you enter. It is not project management advice and it does not replace a project manager. The workbook ships with an invented four-project sample so every tab has something in it; delete it and type your own. A date that clears on this file still needs the people to actually be available.
